Improvement in hay-elevators



y 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DENNIS N. WEBSTER, OF GENEVA, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN HAV-ELEVATORS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,267, dated March 3,1874; application filed November 20, 1873.

To all whom t may concern: j

Be it known that I, DENNrs N. WEEsrEE, of Geneva, yin the county ofAshtabula and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Elevators, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the annexed drawing, in which-Figure l is a side view of my invention as applied to the inclined trackor ways of its supporting-frame, a portion of which is broken away.Figs. 2, 3, and 4 represent enlarged detached views of the several partsof mydevice.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are designated bycorresponding letters.

This invention relates to a certain improvement in that class ofelevators in which the car is automatically dispatched to itsdestination; and it consists of a bifurcated or forked lever, pivoted atthe elevated end, or thereabout, of an inclined suspended track or ways,upon which travels a car, having lateral openings to receive the teethof spring jaws or clamps attached to a yoke, with pendants or hooks toengage with, or take hold of, the bails of the rack having the weight orload to be elevated, Sto., substantially as hereinafter described.

To enable others to make and use my invention, I will proceed todescribe it.

In the annexed drawing, A refers to a beam, supported upon transverse orcurved pieces a a, resting upon, or secured to, four or more uprights,(not show11,) and from which beam depends an inclined track or ways, A',with'the rails a' a. B is a bifurcated lever, pivoted at the upper endof the inclined track, and having its tines or prongs pointed andtapering to permit them to easily fit or enter between the spring jawsor clamps and the car, which they do after the car has been returned toits elevated position, and thus disconnect the said jaws or clamps fromthe said car, when the emptied rack can be lowered or allowed to descendin readiness for a second load. Vhen the spring-jaws are to be united tothe car, the lever B will yield upwardly to the ascending jaws, whoseupper ends are thus brought in contact with the lower side of the tinesof I said lever. O is a car, so adjusted to the inclined track A' asthat its bottom is brought below the latter, and its trucks or wheels,which are journaled in its upper portion, thus caused to travel upon therails a' a' of said track, by which adjustment the car is prevented fromrunning off the track. The car O is provided with a second bottom, c,extending down below the first one, with a tapering or rounding surface,and supplied with lateral openings c1 c1, and an opening, c2, in itslower surface, arranged in a line with a fourth opening, c3, in thefirst bottom of the car. D D are the spring jaws or clamps, the

horizontal or uniting portion of which is fastened to the upper side ofthe yoke E, the jaws themselves being supplied, upon their inner orcontiguous sides, with teeth or projections d d, with their lower endsor surfaces at right angles to the jaws, and their upper surfacestaperin g 0r beveled toward the outwardly-curved or divergent vends ofthe jaws, by which the said teeth are caused to adapt themselves to thebottom c of the car, and to glide into the lateral openings c1 c1thereof as the springjaws D D are united to the same. The jaws or clampsD D having thus been united to the car, the rack, with its load, whichhas been attached to the yoke E through its hooks c e, will be inreadiness for transportation, and the car to be dispatched to itsdestination. A rope, F, for manipulating or returning the car and rackto their elevated position after the latter has discharged its contents,is attached, at one end, to the yoke E, up through and from which itpasses through the openings c2 and c3 in the car, thence along the lowerside of the inclined track A', up under a pulley, f, -in the latter, andover two pulleys, j" f', in the beam A, from which it passes to, and iswound around, a nfin'dlass, or other suitable winding medium.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, with the carriage or car O c, supplied with theopenings c2 c3, of the rope F, pulley j', and track A', substantially asand for the purpose set forth.

2. The track A', bifurcated lever B, car C c c2 c3, spring-toothed jawsor clamps D D, yoke E, rope E, and pulley f, all substantially as andfor the purpose set forth.

DENNIS N. WEBSTER.

Witnesses DENNIS THORP, It. M. WoonwoE'rH.

